General Information

About the Program

Who Completes the Application?

The applicant must complete an Application for a Grant (Form 101) and include all required documentation using the On-line System. In addition, the Personal Data Form (Form 100) must be completed by applicants and co-applicants and linked to the application form.

Presentation Standards

You are responsible for submitting a complete application that conforms to the presentation standards established by NSERC. Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected, or be at a disadvantage, in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards. Where page limits are stated, pages in excess of the number permitted will be removed.

Application Deadlines

Your application must be received at your institution’s research grants office by their internal deadline date; contact your research grants office for those deadlines.

For programs with deadlines, the application must be received at NSERC by 8:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on the deadline date. If it is not received by the deadline, it will be considered late and will be rejected.

Personal Information

The collection, use and disclosure of personal information provided to NSERC are outlined in the following policy statements:

Completing the Application

Application Profile

Title of proposal

The title will be used for publication purposes. It should describe the subject of the research to be supported. It should not contain a company or trade name. Spell out scientific symbols and acronyms.

Time devoted to proposed research/activity

Enter the time devoted by the applicant (in hours per month) to the proposed research/activity.

Area(s) of Research

Research subject codes

Consult the NSERC Code Tables. All applicants are required to select a primary research code.

Area of application codes

Consult the NSERC Code Tables. All applicants are required to select a primary area of application code from the list of Area of Application Codes.

Key words

Provide a maximum of 10 key words that describe the proposal.

Certification/Requirements

Before completing this page, consult the Policies and Guidelines of the Program Guide for Professors concerning the requirements for certain types of research.

Research involving humans: If you select Yes, you must provide your institution's administration with the appropriate certification indicating that research involving humans has been reviewed and has received the required approval.

Research involving human pluripotent stem cells: If you select Yes, or if through peer review the application is found to fall into this category and is recommended for funding, it will be forwarded, with your consent, to the Stem Cell Oversight Committee (SCOC) to ensure compliance with Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research: Guidelines for CIHR-Funded Research. The SCOC review is in addition to the normal review by local Research Ethics Boards (REBs). Funding will not be released until approval has been obtained from the SCOC.

Research involving the use of animals: If you select Yes, you must provide your institution's administration with the certification from the animal care committee at the institution that the experimental procedures proposed have been approved and that the care and treatment of animals is in accordance with the principles outlined in the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guide.

Research involving hazardous substances: If you select Yes, you must provide your institution's administration with the certification from the biosafety committee at the institution that the laboratory procedures being used comply with the safety precautions necessary for the level of containment required by the research.

Environmental impact

Appendix A (Environmental Information) must be completed and submitted with the grant application ONLY if at least one of the following situations applies to your research activities: (A) any phase of the proposed research will take place outdoors and on federal lands in Canada, as defined in section 2(1) of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012); (B) any phase of the proposed research will take place outdoors and outside of Canada; (C)(i) the grant funds will permit a designated project (listed in the CEAA 2012 Regulations Designating Physical Activities (RDPA)) to be carried out in whole or in part; or (C)(ii) any phase of the proposed research will depend on a designated project (listed in theRDPA) that is being carried out by an organization other than NSERC. If none of these situations apply to your proposed research activities, then no Appendix A is required.

Note: On July 6, 2012, CEAA 2012 came into force. As a result, the review process for applications submitted to NSERC has been revised. Grant applicants are required to provide more specific information under a completely revised Appendix A (Environmental Information), and Appendix B (CEAA Pre-Screening Checklist) no longer exists. In addition, the NSERC Policy on Environmental Assessment has been revoked and replaced by NSERC’s Guidelines on Environmental Review and Assessment.

Cover Letter

The cover letter is optional and should only be used if you wish to provide NSERC with additional information that will not be shared with external reviewers, such as a justified request that an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization not be involved in the review of your proposal. NSERC will take such a request into consideration. The cover letter must contain your name, the NSERC program to which you are applying, and the title of your application.

Note: This letter may be accessible to these individuals under the Privacy Act.

Co-Applicants

Identify co-applicants who will participate on your application. Co-applicants must provide their NSERC Personal Data Form (Form 100). Co-applicants, except those from the applicant's institution, must advise the authorized officer of their organization that the applicant, or the applicant's institution, will be seeking their signature prior to submitting the application to NSERC, agreeing to their participation.

To invite co-applicants to link their Personal Data Form (F100) to the application, enter the email address of the co-applicant as it appears in the co-applicant's Form 100, as well as the family name. When you select Save, an automated email message will be sent to the person(s) to whom you have granted access to your application, informing them that they have been invited to participate in your application. The status will appear as Not Linked.

When a co-applicant links a Personal Data Form (F100) to the application, his/her personal information will appear in the Co-applicant page, and the status will change to Linked. At this point, enter the time (in hours per month) each co-applicant will devote to the proposed research/activity or the use of equipment or facility.

By submitting this form, the applicant certifies that the individuals listed as co-applicants have been informed of the precise uses and disclosures of their personal information by NSERC (see Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to NSERC) and have authorized the release of the information by the applicant.

Collaborators

A collaborator is a member of the research team that is applying for a group grant. The collaborator will not have access to the grant funds and must be qualified to undertake research independently. Collaborators are expected to contribute to the overall intellectual direction of the research project or program of research and to bring their own resources to the collaboration. Examples of collaborators are: government scientists, academic researchers, company staff members or research scientists.

Supporting Organizations

Enter information about each co-applicant organization's signing officer (other than the applicant’s organization). For supporting organizations such as an industrial partner or a government department, enter information about the authorized representative(s).

The applicant must ensure that the co-applicants from other institutions obtain the appropriate signature from the authorized officer of their organization prior to submitting the application to NSERC (see Signatures requirements within this document).

Summary of Proposal

The summary is intended to explain the proposal in language that the public can understand.

Using simple terms, briefly describe the nature of the work to be done. Indicate why and to whom the research is important, the anticipated outcomes and how your field and Canada will benefit.

If you wish, you may also provide a summary in the other official language in the text box identified for that purpose.

Activity Schedule

List the activities/steps required to achieve the objectives for each year of the grant.

Indicate the start and end dates for the activities leading to the milestones, as well as the major results expected.

The milestone definition and the work plan (provided in the Proposal page) will be used to assess whether a program is feasible and whether the available resources are adequate to complete it on schedule.

Proposal

Using the headings below and in a maximum of 10 single-sided pages (this page limit does not include references), describe your proposal. For large and complex projects, contact NSERC staff if you feel additional pages are needed to appropriately describe what is being proposed.

Refer to the DND/NSERC Research Partnership Grants description in the Program Guide for Professors for a list of criteria that will be considered by reviewers when evaluating the applications.

Synopsis: Provide a concise overview of the scientific or technical objectives, approach, and the new knowledge, expertise, or technology that could be transferred to Canadian industry. Indicate the benefits expected to accrue to Canadian industry, to the academic institution, and to the scientific or engineering discipline.

Background: Relate the proposal to current scientific, technical and commercial developments in the field, referring to the current literature and market conditions. Describe the background research on which the project is built.

Detailed proposal: Discuss the scientific issues, research problems or technical complexities, and describe the research methodology and experimental design proposed to explain or resolve them. Provide a work plan and relate it to the milestone schedule from the Activity Schedule section. Describe the roles of any undergraduate or graduate students, or postdoctoral fellows who will be involved in the project. If applicable, clearly justify the need for any additional support staff such as research assistants, technicians or other professional staff who may be required to carry out the project.

Team expertise: Explain how the knowledge and experience of each researcher relates to the expertise needed to accomplish the project objectives, and how the contributions of the team members (including, if applicable, industrial partner(s)’s) will be integrated. If the applicant or any co-applicant anticipates taking sabbatical or other leave during the grant period, describe the impact on the research.

Research management: Provide a plan for how the project will be managed to provide both day-to-day direction and scientific leadership, as well as maintain good communication between the university research group(s) and the industrial partner(s). If applicable, please detail the project manager's qualifications, involvement, role and responsibilities.

Training of highly qualified personnel: The proposal must include a student training component. Describe how the knowledge and experience gained by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants or others, including industrial partner(s)’s personnel, is relevant to the advancement of the field, to developing practical applications of knowledge, or strengthening the industrial research base. The number of undergraduate and graduate students trained is expected to be commensurate with the size of the project. Students and postdoctoral fellows are expected to enhance their skills through interactions with the industrial partner(s) (e.g., participation in planning meetings, active exposure to industrial processes such as R&D, manufacturing, regulatory, IP, commercialization, etc.). Describe the nature of the proposed interactions where appropriate.

Value of the results and industrial relevance: Describe the anticipated value of the project results, highlighting the industrial relevance of the scientific or technical advances, or the innovative techniques, processes or products that will be developed. Clearly identify how the work will benefit the company by showing how the outcome will address a current or future industrial or market need. To the extent possible, indicate the additional work the industrial partner(s) will have to do to exploit the results of the research for commercialization. Describe how the exploitation of the project results will benefit the Canadian economy within a reasonable time.

Benefit to Canada: As well as the economic benefit to Canada described in the previous section, outline any additional economic, social, and/or environmental benefits that will or could be realized in Canada.

References

Use this section to provide a list of literature references.

Do not refer readers to Websites for additional information on your proposal.

Do not introduce hyperlinks in your list of references.

Proposed Expenditures

Before completing this page, read the instructions and consult the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide for information about the eligibility of expenditures for the direct costs of research and the regulations governing the use of grant funds.

Salaries and benefits

Give the names (if known), categories of employment and proposed salaries (with explicit indication of the non-discretionary benefits) of students, postdoctoral fellows, research staff and the project manager. Briefly describe the responsibilities for each position and indicate the percentage of time they will be spending on this project over its life span. Do not include salaries of faculty in project costs.

Refer to Form 100 instructions for information regarding obtaining consent to name individuals in your proposal.

Equipment or facility

Give a breakdown of the items requested. Provide details on models, manufacturers, prices and applicable taxes. Justify the need for each item requested.

Fees to be paid for the use of equipment or a facility should be described (e.g., hours and rate).

Materials and supplies

Provide details and explain major items.

Travel

Explain briefly how each activity relates to the proposed research.

Dissemination

Provide details of publication costs, user workshops or other activities.

Technology transfer activities

List the expenditure for field trials, building prototypes, scale-up costs, demonstration projects, workshops, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Budget Justification

Provide a detailed explanation and justification for each budget item identified in the Proposed Expenditures page. Provide sufficient information to allow reviewers to assess whether the resources requested are appropriate. This page should only contain information pertinent to the budget.

Quotations

Provide two recent quotations for items or systems costing more than $25,000 before taxes. Provide justification if two quotations are not available.

Note: For upload purposes, all the quotations must be saved into a single PDF document.

Relationship to Other Research Support

Any relationship and/or overlap, conceptual or financial, with work supported by NSERC or other funding sources must be explained.

Use an additional page to provide the following information:

Clear and concise information on the conceptual and budgetary relationship or difference between this application and all other support currently held or applied for by the applicant and co-applicants. Also explain perceived duplication in funding or, if applicable, indicate how the current application complements research funded by other sources.

For each grant currently held or applied for, clearly describe the main objective, and provide a brief outline of the methodology, budget details and details on the support of highly qualified personnel. In addition, the relationships to the NSERC application must be explained. Such information may be provided, for example, in the form of a brief summary of the necessary details for each grant.

The onus is on the applicant to provide sufficient information to enable the reviewers to evaluate the relationship between this application and other sources of support, the incremental value of additional support from the program, and to recommend the appropriate NSERC funding level.

The consequence of not providing adequate information to assess the relationship to other research support is that the reviewers may recommend reduced or no funding.

Contributions from Supporting Organizations

Use this page to report the contributions committed by the supporting organization(s)—including the industrial partner(s)— to the research project. Before completing this page, read the instructions and consult the Use of Grant Funds page of the NSERC Program Guide for Professors concerning the eligibility of expenditures for the direct costs of research and the regulations governing the use of grant funds, and Guidelines on Eligibility and Value of In-Kind Contributions.

Provide the information for each supporting organization.

List the resources the supporting organization will provide to support the proposed activities including:

the net cash contribution to direct costs of research (without the university overheads). This amount will be transferred to the appropriate line on the Proposed Expenditures page;

the in-kind contribution to direct costs of research (donations of services, materials and equipment). This amount will be transferred to the Proposed Expenditures page (if applicable);

the in-kind contributions to indirect costs. This amount is not transferred to the Proposed Expenditures page; and

an indication of the amount paid to the institution for overhead.

Use the Contributions from Supporting Organizations (Attachment) page to provide an explanation of the cash and eligible in-kind contributions.

Form 183A and letter of support (and attachments, as required)

A completed Form 183A, letter of support and any other required documents must be attached for each organization participating in a research project. Either the applicant or the supporting organization must complete all applicable pages of the form and provide the required documents.

To allow a supporting organization the ability to link a Form 183A to your application, use the Access Manager page of Form 101. For details on how to use this function, refer to the Access Manager instructions.

For applicants who are filling out Form 183A on behalf of the participating organization use the Link Manager page of Form 183A to link to your application. For details on how to use this function, refer to the Link Manager instructions.

Contributions from Supporting Organizations (Attachment)

Provide a detailed explanation of the in-kind contributions to the direct costs of research. This information will be used to assess the level and nature of the supporting organization’s—including the industrial partner(s)’s—involvement, the importance of their contribution to the success of the project and an appropriate cost-sharing ratio.

Salaries for scientific and technical staff: list the name of each staff member, their role at the company and their specific expertise, details as to what they will be providing to the project (link to milestones if possible), the number of hours they will devote to the project, and their hourly rate.

Donation of equipment, software: list each item of equipment and/or software being donated to the project, explaining how it will be used and its importance to the success of the project; provide details on how the cost of the equipment/software was calculated.

Donation of material: describe the materials to be provided, their importance to the project and how the cost of the materials was calculated.

Field work logistics: describe the importance of the proposed field work to the project and provide details on how the cost of the field work was calculated.

Provision of services: provide details on the services to be provided, the importance of these services to the success of the project and how the cost of providing these services was calculated.

Other: provide sufficient details on items listed in this category, their importance to the project and the calculation of associated costs.

Intellectual Property

NSERC's Policy on Intellectual Property supports the premise that every effort should be made to exploit the results of NSERC-funded research in Canada, for the benefit of Canadians. For most projects, a copy of the final and signed research agreement between the industrial partner and the university is reviewed by NSERC to ensure that it conforms to the NSERC IP Policy.

Discuss plans for the protection and disposition of intellectual property arising from the grant. Outline the broad terms of the agreement between the industrial partner(s) and academic institutions on the rights to the research results, and on the freedom to publish (see Policy on Intellectual Property in the Program Guide for Professors).

Note: An agreement is not required by NSERC if all results will be openly disseminated and there will be no publication restrictions; however, if an agreement has been or will be negotiated, NSERC does require that a signed copy be submitted for review by NSERC. NSERC program staff should be consulted to determine if an agreement is required.

For projects where the results will be exploited by the industrial partner(s) for competitive advantage, a signed research or intellectual property agreement between the academic institution and the industrial partner(s) covering the full duration of the grant will be required (see Policy on Intellectual Property in the Program Guide for Professors). If available, such agreements should be included in the application, even in a draft form. If the project is approved, funds will not be released until a signed agreement compliant with NSERC’s IP policy is received. Failure to submit the signed agreement within six months from the date of the conditional award will result in the withdrawal of the letter of offer. Such agreements are considered confidential and are not made available to peer reviewers.

Other Documents

If you need to provide other documents, such as a collaborator's curriculum vitae (C.V.) or a report of an ongoing or past CRD project, give a brief description of the document and submit it as an attached file.

Note: For upload purposes, all other documents must be saved into a single PDF document.

Environmental Impact – Appendix A

External Reviewer (Referee) Suggestions – Appendix C

Suggest the names of five independent experts competent to assess the technical aspects of the proposal. This list should include experts from the academic community, the government sector and at least one expert from the industrial sector. As appropriate, also include people competent to assess the research aspects outside the natural sciences and engineering.

Signatures

NSERC does not require original signatures on applications or other documents submitted electronically through its On-line System. The electronic submission of applications through this system represents approval and replaces the traditional "physical" or "wet" signatures. Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions in the Program Guide for Professors for more details.

What do the Electronic or Original Signatures on the Application Mean?

For applicants

Before you, as an applicant or co-applicant, can submit your application to NSERC or link your Personal Data Form to an application, you must read and agree to the Terms and Conditions of Applying that appear in a pop-up window during the submission process. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed Terms and Conditions for your records.

the applicant and co-applicant(s) have met, or will meet, the eligibility requirements;

prior to submission of this application, the institution has obtained written approval from any other institutions involved in the application process; and

if the applicant discloses any potential intellectual property (IP) arising from the research, he or she and the institution will endeavour to obtain the greatest possible economic benefit to Canada from the resulting commercial activity. Note: This requirement for disclosure is not intended to supersede any IP ownership policy that the institution already has in place.

The signatures of authorized officers of other supporting organizations certify that the organization:

agrees with the content of the application and will provide the committed resources; and

agrees to the release of the public summary of the award and to the publication of the organization's name as a supporter of the initiative.

If you are both the applicant or co-applicant and a principal of a collaborating organization, another senior official must sign on behalf of the organization.